Family Support and Intimate Partner Violence

• In Event: 4155 - Section on Crime, Law, and Deviance Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 1. Responses to Gendered Violence

Abstract

The transition to adulthood has become increasingly complicated due to an increase in the necessity of achieving a postsecondary education to be competitive on the job market. As a result, more and more young adults rely on their parents for instrumental support during this period of transition. The provision of instrumental support is key to ensuring stability and success during emerging adulthood, and this support becomes even more important for individuals who participate in deviant behavior such as intimate partner violence, as the provision of this support may create an opportunity for the individual to change problem behaviors. This paper will examine the relationship between parents’ provision of instrumental and emotional assistance and adult children’s experience of intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization in models that include a measure of the respondent’s perceived opportunity to change their life circumstances. Specifically, these research questions will be addressed: Does parents’ provision of instrumental and emotional support during late adolescence decrease intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization during emerging adulthood, and are perceived opportunities to change their circumstances associated with individuals’ self-reports of intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization? Using data from the Toledo Adolescent Relationship Study, multiple regression analyses are employed to predict intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization separately. While societal norms constrain parents and encourage the provision of instrumental support to family members in need, I do not expect these constraints to encourage the provision of emotional support. Additionally, I expect instrumental and emotional support to result in a decrease in both intimate partner violence perpetration and victimization.

Authors

• Cameron Douthat

• Monica A. Longmore, Bowling Green State University

• Peggy C. Giordano, Bowling Green State University

• Wendy Diane Manning, Bowling Green State University